1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of interchangeable personalized attachments that are fastened to sports equipment such as skis and snowboards for the purpose of ornamentation and identification.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are a number of attachment devices and means for attaching personalized accessories to sports equipment that are the subject of issued patents or patent pending applications, but none of these inventions includes the novel features of the present invention, most notably a two-piece threaded base component that is permanently attached to the sports equipment, in combination with a personalized and interchangeable insert component that can be temporarily locked into the base component via a two-piece threaded connection system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,615 (Nealy, 1981) describes a device that serves as a connector between a leash and a surf mat. U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,483 (Nealy, 1992) is an improved version of the invention described in the '615 patent. Although Nealy discloses a two-piece threaded base configuration, the Nealy connectors do not comprise a permanent outer ring in combination with a removable inner insert component, nor is there a waterproof seal between the base component and the hole through the surf mat. U.S. Pat. No. 6,688,931 (Hart, 2004) provides a rotatable, “turret style” cover that can be used in combination with Nealy's connector described in the '483 patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,147,399 (Viscount et al., 2006) provides an apparatus for removably attaching ornaments to planar surfaces such as snowboards. U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2009/0115181 (Atherson) describes a removable ornament for mounting on a sporting board. Neither of these devices comprises a two-piece threaded base component that is mounted within a hole that penetrates both the upper and lower surfaces of the mounting surface (e.g., the snowboard).
U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2011/0198833 (Shaheen) discloses a removable ornament mounting system for a sports board that comprises a receptacle and a removable insert plug. Unlike the present invention, neither the base (receptacle) nor plug (insert) of the Shaheen invention is comprised of two threaded, lockable components.